News

Rebecca Kilde has a very creative background and is full of ideas that she wanted to share with a community she loves.

After exploring a number of different “maker spaces” around the country, including Leonardo’s Basement in Minneapolis, she looked for a vacant store front and found the perfect location at 129 Main Street to open The Hundredth Monkey Maker Space. In addition to a great space for the whole community to use, its location right across from the UW-Stout campus filled with engineering and art students is an added bonus. (more…)

The Main Street of Menomonie, Inc. Board of Directors is pleased to announce the selection of a new Executive Director, Brenna Long. Long will replace current director, Joanie Dulin, who announced her resignation in July. Long will take over as director Monday, August 25, 2014.

Brenna Long, a Platteville, WI native, is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where she studied Communication Sciences & Disorders and Public Relations.

Most recently, Brenna was employed at the Platteville Regional Chamber & Travel Wisconsin Welcome Center, where she gained notable experience in organizing community events. During her time at UW-Eau Claire, Brenna founded Eau Claire Irish Dance, an organization which she developed to include students, community members and children.

Brenna is ready to embrace this opportunity with Main Street of Menomonie, Inc. “I’ve had family in the Menomonie community for 14 years- I am excited to return to the area and work for a community that I fell in love with. I hope to bring a fresh perspective to further enhance the wonderful work that this organization has already done to promote Menomonie and its downtown businesses.”

You may find Brenna reading, running, or listening to music in her spare time.

Menomonie, Wis.—Main Street of Menomonie invites you to the 11th Annual Great Community Cookout & Tailgating Party on Thursday, September 11th. The event will take place from 4p.m. – 8p.m., on 4th Street, next to the Visitors Center in Downtown Menomonie.

Children’s activities will include: balloon creations by Fritter the Clown, face painting, cheer clinic with the Menomonie High School cheerleaders, hula hoops & jump ropes with Wellness Rocks, a Touch-A-Truck event with “big” trucks from the community to explore and more.

Locally prepared foods and desserts will be available for purchase. We have several vendors offering a wide variety of foods from flavored bratwursts and BBQ ribs to eggrolls, gourmet cupcakes and more!

Bill’s Distributing will be providing beverages for those 21 years of age and older, in their Beer Garden and live music by Left Wing Bourbon will play all evening. A raffle drawing with a variety of great prizes will take place throughout the evening.

SummerDaze is coming to Downtown Menomonie, Wisconsin June 13th & 14th and you do not want to miss the fun! All events are located in our downtown and there is something for everyone of all ages! Medallion Hunt clues will start on Monday, June 9th with the opportunity to win $700 CASH! New this year will be an Alleycat Bike Ride with 8 different checkpoints throughout the city — someone could win a bike!! This year’s theme is SUPER HEROES!! Bring the family down Friday evening on Main Street for our Children’s Parade, watch the Wiener Dog Races and participate in the United Way of Dunn County Bed Races! We’ll have an outdoor movie at dusk featuring our favorite Super Heroes – The Incredibles! Saturday will highlight the North Star Bike Festival with Start & Finish lines on Main Street. Enjoy the Arts & Crafts Fair, Chalkfest, Children’s Games and Activities and Entertainment of the Splatter Sisters provided by Mayo Clinic Health System’s Wellness Rocks. You do not want to miss this fun!! Come join us DOWNTOWN MENOMONIE!!! Follow all detail on the SummerDaze Webpage here or SummerDaze Facebook page here.

The Dunn County Veterans Memorial Committee of Main Street of Menomonie, Inc. and the Community Foundation of Dunn County invite area residents to the 14th annual dedication of new bricks at the Dunn County Veterans Memorial at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 13, 2014. The Veterans Memorial is located at the intersection of the Historic Second Street Corridor and Crescent Street in downtown Menomonie.

Retired CDR David Grambo, United States Navy, will be this year’s guest speaker.

This annual program began on Flag Day, June 14, 2000 when the monument was unveiled and over 300 bricks were dedicated. The Veterans Memorial was created as Dunn County’s way of honoring men and women who had served their country in the military. The veterans honored are not required to be from Dunn County. Service during war time is also not a requirement. This year, 17 veterans will be honored, making a total of 608 bricks at the Memorial.

The Dunn County Veterans Memorial Committee of Main Street of Menomonie, Inc. is responsible for the Memorial and programs relating to it. The Community Foundation of Dunn County coordinates the brick program and also manages the Dunn County Veterans Memorial Endowment Fund.

For more information about purchasing bricks or making a donation to the endowment fund, contact the Community Foundation of Dunn County (715) 232-8019, 500 Main Street, Suite 322, PO Box 498, Menomonie, WI 54751. Additional information regarding veterans of Dunn County may be obtained at the Veterans Affairs Office, 800 Wilson Avenue in Menomonie. For details about this year’s program contact Main Street of Menomonie (715) 235-2666 or visit www.mainstreetmenomonie.org.

Immediately following the Flag Day Ceremonies, a Flag Retirement Ceremony will be held at Menomonie Veterans Center at E4710 County Road BB Menomonie, WI. Everyone is invited to attend this patriotic flag burning for flags that have become faded and worn and must be honorably retired from life.

Sandy Gilbert grew up in Duluth and after double majoring in college, she joined the corporate world for years while traveling globally. At times, she helped businesses set up computer systems and small companies grow larger.

When it came time to retire, she found Spring Valley to be the perfect place to settle down and enjoy a life of being home every night. She even purchased an Arabian mare and challenged Patrick Swayze’s Arabian for a world championship title. (more…)

More than 40 people gathered at The Abbey Pub & Grub on Main Street to join in Main Street of Menomonie’s annual meeting on Feb. 27. Sponsored by The Abbey and Legacy Chocolates, the meeting celebrated successes and awards for 2013 and announced goals and upcoming events for 2014.

Board President Lauren Evans of Wisconsin Industrial Sand Company, led the meeting along with myself and Kristi Krimpelbein of UW-Stout, 2013 board president. As always, following the introduction of board members, several deserving individuals were recognized with special awards. (more…)

Sparking The Flame

Written for Dunn County News January 15, 2014

Twenty-five years of owning a small business is something worth celebrating. That’s certainly the case for The Flame Sports Bar.

Owner Ron Fox came to Menomonie as a University of Wisconsin-Stout men’s basketball team recruit in 1974. As a proud member of the Blue Devil’s ‘74-’75 championship team, he still follows the team today — noting that current head coach, Ed Andrist, was a student assistant coach when Fox played.

As a UW-Stout student, Fox also worked as a bartender at The Flame in downtown Menomonie. After college, he worked at a few different businesses around Menomonie, but still kept in touch with the owner of The Flame. When the bar was available for sale in 1989, Fox, along with three other partners, purchased the bar. (more…)